In today’s world of business, marketing is as much about social media presence as it is about advertisements, focus groups, and quarterly reports. With large Internet platforms such as Instagram demanding the attention of millions of potential consumers worldwide, companies without an online presence are doing themselves a great disservice when it comes to maximizing their brand’s success.

However, simply joining Instagram is not enough to reap the fruits of social media marketing; there are several considerations and decisions that must be made for a business to get the kind of Instagram followers audience needed for increased marketing success. Since more and more businesses have this same idea everyday, it is imperative to stand out and be unique when reaching out to Instagram users. Here are 5 ways to creatively create a brand and get more exposure on Instagram.

1. Know Your Audience

The first step in any marketing campaign is taking time to understand your audience. Although social media marketing makes delivery of content easy and almost instantaneous, that doesn’t mean blindly sending out posts will attract a sizeable audience overnight. Knowing the interests and characteristics of your target audience can contribute greatly to a successful marketing campaign. After all, those extra bits of knowledge can be the difference between spot-on content and an ignored Instagram account.

Another reason for understanding your target audience beforehand is the added benefits of having a game plan for online marketing. Although Instagram advertising seems deceptively simple, there are a fair few considerations that go into every marketing effort on the social platform. In reality, spending the time to figure out how to attract your specific audience can jumpstart your entire marketing process. The steps that follow all build off understanding the whims of your specific audience.

2. Define Your Unique Theme

As stated in the previous tip, understanding your audience can segue into a variety of other important considerations for online marketing. For example, identifying the particular characteristics of your target audience naturally leads into defining a theme for your brand’s account. An account theme can describe the general content and topics of posts.

Iin addition, theme can affect the style of images or other related factors. Overall, account theme is a key factor in deciding the kinds of posts that are used for advertising.

Selecting and dedicating marketing efforts to a single account theme can do wonders for brand exposure. Instead of supplying varied content that may draw different viewers each time, similar posts are employed to draw in the same specific audience post to post. This practice is important because attracting similar followers is more likely to result in increased exposure and natural audience growth; with followers able to show content to their friends with similar interests, brand influence can spread with relative ease.

3. Make Use of Hashtags

One of the distinguishing marks of social media is the hashtag. Although it may seem like a simple, meaningless icon, the hashtag carries tremendous power, especially on the Internet. On Instagram and other social platforms, the hashtag is a symbol of stimulating conversations and binding together different discussions about the same topics. In the realm of online marketing, this means the hashtag can be effectively used to tether together similar brands and content. For the content-hungry followers, hashtags are extremely effective at satisfying their needs.

The trick with hashtags is wielding their power purposefully. Although there is a common practice of stacking posts with tens of different hashtags in hopes of attracting lots of secondary attention, this strategy is seldom effective. To properly harness the hashtag, a more sparing, but purposeful usage should be adopted. Limiting posts to a few more impactful hashtags can attract followers from related discussions, while also appearing unintimidating to regular followers.

4. Post Consistently

The biggest downfall of brands looking to market themselves on social media is a half-hearted effort. Since lots of companies flock to Instagram to increase their influence, there are a lot of accounts that either post inconsistently or have been inactive for long periods of time. Both of these situations are problematic for brands because followers will feel either ignored or neglected in each case, neither of which is ideal for marketing.

As simple as it may seem, posting consistently is one of the most surefire ways to attract more followers. The reason for this is because so few brands strike the perfect balance between providing intriguing content and doing so in a timely manner. Brands entering the game of Instagram marketing should be willing to contribute content on a regular basis. Doing so will ensure increased numbers of followers and rising exposure on the social platform.

5. Make Use of Third Party Applications

As a last note about increasing Instagram exposure, although the native app has plenty of unique features, it can be lacking when it comes to marketing tools. Luckily for brands trying to get into online marketing, there exist a number of third party applications dedicated to increasing the efficiency of social platforms like Instagram, especially when it comes to attracting more followers and analyzing performance. One such application is SocialDrift.

A self-proclaimed Instagram automation tool, SocialDrift offers features such as targeting your specific audience, automating likes and follower acquisition, and so on. By making use of an artificial intelligence system, SocialDrift can analyze the interests of your Instagram audience and carry out the tasks best suited to growing that group of followers and expanding your influence on the social platform. Simply put, SocialDrift is one of the best Instagram bots out there.